Sushi barcoding in the UK: another kettle of fish.

Sara G Vandamme,Sasha-Ann Taylor,Jessica A Towne,Andrew M Griffiths,Mhairi Watson,Cristina Di Muri,Elizabeth A Hankard,Stefano Mariani

doi:10.7717/peerj.1891

Sara G Vandamme, Sasha-Ann Taylor + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1891

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Abstract

Although the spread of sushi restaurants in the European Union and United States is a relatively new phenomenon, they have rapidly become among the most popular food services globally. Recent studies indicate that they can be associated with very high levels (>70%) of fish species substitution. Based on indications that the European seafood retail sector may currently be under better control than its North American counterpart, here we investigated levels of seafood labelling accuracy in sushi bars and restaurants across England. We used the COI barcoding gene to screen samples of tuna, eel, and a variety of other products characterised by less visually distinctive ‘white flesh’. Moderate levels of substitution were found (10%), significantly lower than observed in North America, which lends support to the argument that public awareness, policy and governance of seafood labels is more effective in the European Union. Nevertheless, the results highlight that current labelling practice in UK restaurants lags behind the level of detail implemented in the retail sector, which hinders consumer choice, with potentially damaging economic, health and environmental consequences. Specifically, critically endangered species of tuna and eel continue to be sold without adequate information to consumers.

Highlights

Seafood is a popular and healthy food choice and, one of the most commonly traded food commodities in the world (FAO, 2014)
Due to increasingly complex supply chains, it is often unclear where and when seafood fraud is taking place, but restaurants and take-aways have been identified as the worst point of consumption for species substitution (Jacquet & Pauly, 2008; Warner et al, 2013; Bénard-Capelle et al, 2015)
As restaurants often represent the end-point of these long and intricate supply chains, without needing to comply with the standardised labelling practices of the retail sector, they could be consistently associated with the highest levels of substitution

Summary

Introduction

Seafood is a popular and healthy food choice and, one of the most commonly traded food commodities in the world (FAO, 2014). Due to increasingly complex supply chains, it is often unclear where and when seafood fraud is taking place, but restaurants and take-aways have been identified as the worst point of consumption for species substitution (Jacquet & Pauly, 2008; Warner et al, 2013; Bénard-Capelle et al, 2015). Large studies across North America illustrate that sushi venues have the highest level of mislabelling (74%–16%), followed by restaurants. (38%) and grocery stores (18%) (Warner et al, 2013; Pramod et al, 2014; Khaksar et al, 2015) Such findings suggest that, as restaurants often represent the end-point of these long and intricate supply chains, without needing to comply with the standardised labelling practices of the retail sector, they could be consistently associated with the highest levels of substitution

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